Boys, Girls BB State Rank Updates

Sophomore Lonzo Ball has Chino Hills knocking on the door of the top 10 and has already committed to UCLA. Gardena Serra’s Brijae Brackett, meanwhile, has helped her team get into the top 10 and stay there. Photos: Ronnie Flores & Harold Abend.

Serra of Gardena and El Cerrito get jumps this week into the Top 20 among boys teams. For the girls, another clutch outing from Jordin Canada helps Windward beat Long Beach Poly and push the Wildcats up to No. 2.

Check below for this week’s new list of the State Top 20 boys and girls basketball rankings.
To read our breakdowns on each Top 20 team, why some of these rankings moves were made, which teams are on the bubble and for the CIF divisional state rankings for both boys and girls basketball, you need to be a member of our Gold Club. Join our team today by CLICKING HERE.

Coach and trainer Chris Asher works with state stat stars and players from state-ranked teams of all ages, helping them to improve their speed, quickness and agility. He is based in Hollywood, also has a role with the UCLA track program and serves athletes within many miles of his location. For more about him, CLICK HERE. For more about his Gold Medal Excellence training program, CLICK HERE.

NEW BOYS BASKETBALL
TOP 20 OVERALL RANKINGS

It’s a bit of a shocker to see St. John Bosco of Bellflower fall out of the Top 20, especially due to a couple of wins by the Braves the really stand out, but their Trinity League loss to Orange Lutheran last week gives us no choice.

Of course, Bosco can climb back in next week if it knocks off No. 5 Etiwanda at the Nike Extravaganza. A win in that game by the Braves also would help Mayfair of Lakewood, whose early win over the Bosco doesn’t hold as much water as it once did.

The team back up on rise this week is Chaminade of West Hills, which returns the top 10 due to Bishop Montgomery of Torrance hitting a down slide with three losses in its last four games. The Knights, however, remain in the top 20 because of their overall body of work.

(Compiled by Ronnie Flores with assistance from Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, Jan. 25; previous rating in parentheses)

So much for one national ranking having Mater Dei of Santa Ana at one point behind Long Beach Poly and Berkeley St. Mary’s and even behind another team the Monarchs beat in the opening round of the Nike TOC, Homewood-Flossmoor, the top team in Illinois.

With Long Beach Poly’s 38-37 loss last Saturday night to Windward, which came down to Jordin Canada making a free throw with 3.4 seconds left, it’s a piece of cake to put California’s top three in a pecking order of Mater Dei, then Windward, then Long Beach Poly.

The No. 4 spot is now not so easy. The factors in moving defending CIF Open Division champion Bishop O’Dowd to that position and to the top spot in Northern California include a head-to-head win over Berkeley St. Mary’s, which also has a win over Stockton St. Mary’s. There’s also a close loss to Long Beach Poly and the fact the Dragons now have all their players after transfers became eligible earlier this month. The final factor is that O’Dowd will have a tougher road in the CIF North Coast Section dealing with Miramonte of Orinda than St. Mary’s of Stockton will have in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

(Compiled by Harold Abend with assistance from Mark Tennis; updated through games played Saturday, Jan. 25; previous rating in parentheses)

Alemany head coach Bryan Camacho poses with last year’s CIF Division III girls state title trophy.

1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 17-1

2. (3) Windward (Los Angeles) 15-2

3. (2) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 15-2

4. (7) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 15-3

5. (4) St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 16-5

6. (5) St. Mary’s (Stockton) 14-4

7. (6) Carondelet (Concord) 14-3

8. (8) Salesian (Richmond) 16-5

9. (9) Serra (Gardena) 17-2

10. (10) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 19-1

11. (11) Etiwanda 13-5

12. (12) Miramonte (Orinda) 17-1

13. (13) Camarillo 18-3

14. (14) Chaminade (West Hills) 17-3

15. (15) Clovis West (Fresno) 15-3

16. (16) Enterprise (Redding) 17-1

17. (17) Bishop Alemany (Mission Hills) 16-5

18. (18) Bishop’s (La Jolla) 17-4

19. (19) Troy (Fullerton) 15-5

20. (20) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 16-2

Dropped Out: None.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark, Ronnie Flores and Harold Abend on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports